​Carers Week: be part of something big!

This year Carers Week takes place from Monday 9 to Sunday 15 June 2014 and centres on the idea of a Carers Quest – the greatest new drive to reach out to carers in the UK.

The Carers Week Quest is an exciting new initiative to encourage improved joint working in local communities to reach out to carers. It aims to reach out to the thousands of carers in the UK who are currently missing out on support, advice and services.

Carers Week aims to improve the lives of carers and the people they care for. It does this by raising awareness of carers at a national, regional and local level. Hundreds of organisations and individuals join in each year to make it one of the UK's most successful awareness campaigns.

One in eight of us are currently carers looking after an ill, frail or disabled family member or friend.

The very nature of caring means very often people don’t at first, or sometimes ever, identify themselves as carers. Rather, they think of themselves simply as wife, husband, son, daughter, mum, dad or perhaps grandparent, niece or nephew helping a loved one.

Without the right help and support caring can have a devastating impact – carers can quickly become cut off, with their physical and emotional health, work, and their finances all hit hard.

We all have a role in helping carers know about the support and services on offer to them. This June we are encouraging the greatest ever drive to reach out to carers in the UK.